a month of Sundays, and a couple more
events at Little Sparta on Sundays in Summer, 2025
All events are free with a purchased ticket to the garden - as always donations are welcome towards the upkeep of the garden.
A bus will run from Edinburgh on 27 July and every Sunday in August, leaving from 21-22 St Andrews Sq. at 11:30, returning from Little Sparta at 3:30pm.
The cost of the bus, including admission to the garden, is £40. Booking at www.littlesparta.org.uk.
Experiencing the poetry of Little Sparta - 27 July 2025, 2pm
Professor Joanna Gavins, Chair in English Language and Literature, University of Sheffield, gives
a talk on the language of Ian Hamilton Finlay’s poetry and how the garden plays a crucial part in
how we experience it. This will be an interactive event and take place in part around the garden
itself. Introduced by head gardener George Gilliland.
A Paper Boat Regatta - 3 August 2025, 2pm
100 paper boats to celebrate IHF’s centenary. Details of how to take part by sponsoring a boat will
be listed on the trust’s website from mid-June.
The Boat in the Writing Room - 10 August, 2pm
Writer and Finlay biographer Dr Alistair Peebles introduces a new film, The Boat in the Writing
Room: retracing the origins of Stonypath, Little Sparta, and discusses Ian Hamilton Finlay’s early
career with Professor Andrew Patrizio. An independent production, in collaboration with film-
maker Michael Lloyd, the film looks at the developments in Finlay’s work that took place during
the year that he and Sue Finlay spent at Gledfield Farmhouse, near Ardgay, Sutherland, May 1965-
June 1966.
In Ian's Library - 17 August, 2pm
‘Something Old, Something New’ Join Finlay scholars Professor Stephen Bann and Greg Thomas in
exploring the labyrinthine world of Ian Hamilton Finlay’s library. Introduced by Magnus Linklater.
Poetry in the Garden - 24 August, 2pm
An afternoon of poetry in the garden presented in collaboration with the Scottish Poetry Library. A
list of contributing poets will be detailed on the trust’s website in the coming weeks.
Afterwords... - 31 August, 2pm
Join Michael Hamish Glen, one of Ian Hamilton Finlay’s earliest collaborators, in a workshop
demonstration of letterpress printing using the original press on which he printed some of Ian
Hamilton Finlay’s first cards and booklets. Hamish will also read from Afterwords, his recent
account of Finlay reminiscences.
Virtuous Landscapes - 28 September, 2pm
Join Patrick Eyres, editor of the New Arcadian Journal and long-standing friend of IHF and Little
Sparta, in conversation with the author and Finlay scholar Yves Arbrioux to celebrate the launch of
the New Arcadian Journal issue 81/82 devoted to ‘Little Sparta at War and the Cancelled Parisian
Gardens’.
